After the Milford evacuation, we decided to leave the rain of Fiordland (Floodland) behind, and swung into the "Deep South" of NZ, winding our way through the Catlins on our way to the city of Dunedin. Along the way we stopped to see a rare colony of yellow-eyed penguins coming home to the beach from a day at sea. The next day, we drove early to the Otago Peninsula, and took some short walks; there we encountered more wildlife, including some sea lions blocking our path along the beach, and witnessed our first sheep-herding activity. Nothing Scout or Tess couldn't have handled!

We're now in Lake Tekapo - the pictures above are from a hike we did this morning up to the top of Mt. John. Tomorrow we're on our way to Christchurch, before we fly to Melbourne on Sunday. Hard to believe that our time in NZ is coming to an end!